M’s playoff hopes suffer blow in loss to Angels

By Tim Booth / Associated Press

SEATTLE — Jose Suarez threw five strong innings, Brandon Marsh accounted for all the offense with a two-run double, and the Los Angeles Angels landed a major blow to Seattle’s postseason hopes by beating the Mariners 2-1 on Friday night.

Seattle dropped into a tie with Toronto, both of them one game behind Boston in the race for the second wild card in the American League. The Mariners had won 10 of their last 11 and started the day knowing a sweep of the Angels would at the very least force a tiebreaker game next Monday.

They ended the night again needing help from others to end their 20-year postseason drought.

Kyle Seager led off the Seattle ninth with a double, but Raisel Igelsias recovered to get Luis Torrens, Abraham Toro and Jarred Kelenic for his 34th save.

Suarez (8-8) was terrific for five innings, the only damage coming on a single by Toro and RBI double from Kelenic. Otherwise, the Mariners were shut down by the lefty, who closed the season by winning three of his final four decisions after joining the Angels rotation in July.

The combo of Mike Mayers, Jose Quijada, Steve Cishek and Iglesias held off Seattle for the final four innings and sent Seattle’s first full-stadium sellout crowd of since 2019 — more than 44,000 — home deflated.

Seattle knew shortly after first pitch that it needed a win to keep pace with Boston and stay ahead of Toronto. And for most of the night, those fans were filled with nervous energy, waiting for an offensive burst that never came.

The seventh inning is what will linger with the Mariners.

Torrens tripled to open the seventh, his second of the season and third of his career. Toro walked, but Seattle failed in three attempts to get the runner in from third base.

Quijada entered and struck out Kelenic swinging at what would’ve been ball four with the infield playing back and conceding the tying run. Tom Murphy struck out on four pitches and Dylan Moore was called out looking on a borderline 3-2 pitch.

Seattle starter Marco Gonzales struggled in only one inning but it was enough for the lefty to take the loss. Gonzales (10-6) gave up a single to Luis Rengifo and walked David Fletcher to open the third. Marsh drove a 2-2 fastball out to deep left-center and Moore was unable to run down the deep flyball, allowing both Rengifo and Fletcher to score.

Gonzales escaped the inning thanks to a key double play off the bat of Kurt Suzuki and finished six innings, allowing just three hits and struck out five.